Re: Take a look at this!

At 08:28 PM 1/29/97 -0500, you wrote:
>The following tid-bit came to me tonight from a lady in Region 4.  Take a 
>look at it and wonder!
>*****************
>....By the way, on the back cover of the latest Abbey Press
>> catalog they were advertising for sale, (daylilies, not irises thank
>> goodness) for $29.95 you can buy a daylily and name it anything you wish.
>>  Abbey Press would then register it for you............. 
>My gosh - what is the plant world coming to?
>Dennis

Looks like someone finally found a good way to recycle all of their reject
daylilies.:)  One wonders what the quality and pedigree of these legacies
would be.  I believe that this single act on the part of Abbey Press will
have little effect on the world of AHS except to confuse the general
public.  Any individual who would buy one of these is unlikely to be a
member of AHS or have the where with all (or self-motivation) to promote
and distribute their newly "registered" variety.  

As an example of the success (not!) of this practice, look at large mail
order nurseries now which give their own names to daylilies and other
plants.  Do these plants ever make it into the AHS or other professional
plant societies' awards systems? I doubt it.  These bast--ds (the plants
not the people or nurseries) would be found out by rival hybridizers long
before they made it that far. :)

Also any AHS member who would try this would probably have more money than
sense.  They could just as easily collect volunteers in their own garden
and name away.  The same goes for any unscrupulous person in the iris world.

Granted, schemes such as this only serve to confuse the general public when
it comes to what the role of AHS of AIS are, but as gardeners mature they
should seek out the associated professional organization for the plant of
their interest.  At this point, when they have become more serious about
the plant they are collecting and growing, they can be set straight by
someone such as an AHS member on the proper way to register the plant (in
this case a daylily).

Also before I'm chastised by other list members. I will say in my defense
that I did use the "dirty word" in the first paragraph in its proper
english/dictionary context and as such it was not meant to offend, but to
apply a more colorful term than "illegitimate" which I had trouble
spelling.  I apologize in advance for offending anyone, but just keep in
mind that if you're offended you are subject to being labeled as one of
"Graham's Prudes". :)

By the way, the original title of this e-mail : "TAKE A LOOK AT THIS"
sounds like a wonderful iris name if there is no word number limitation on
names.

-Donald


Donald Mosser
Member of AIS, HIPS, SIGNA, SSI, SLI, SPCNI, and IRIS-L
dmosser@southconn.com
http://www.geocities.com/rainforest/5570

North Augusta, South Carolina, USA
On the South Carolina and Georgia Border
USDA Zone 7b-8
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